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The Reforms of Ephialtes

The humiliating rejection by Sparta of their help outraged the men of
Athens1 and provoked hostile relations
between the two states. The disgrace the rejection brought to Cimon carried over to
his fellow aristocrats in general, thereby establishing a political climate ripe for
further democratic reforms. An Athenian named Ephialtes promptly seized the
moment in 461 B.C.2 and convinced the assembly to pass measures limiting the power
of the Areopagus.3 More
importantly, his reforms set up a judicial system of courts4 manned by male citizens over thirty years old chosen by lot
for each case. The reforms made it virtually impossible to influence or bribe the
citizen jurors because 1) all trials were concluded in one day, and 2) juries were
large (from several hundred to several thousand). There was no judge to instruct the
jurors, nor any lawyers to harangue them—only an official to keep fights
from breaking out. Jurors made up their own minds after hearing speeches made by the
plaintiffs and defendants, who spoke on their own behalf and sometimes called their
friends and supporters to do so. The accuser and the accused, although they were
required to speak for themselves, might pay someone else to compose their speech to
the court, which they then delivered as if it consisted of their own words. A majority
vote of the jurors ruled, and there was no appeal from the decision of the court.